Matthew 24:4-5 (AMP) – 4 Jesus answered, “Be careful that no one misleads you [deceiving you and leading you into error]. 5 For many will come in My name [misusing it, and appropriating the strength of the name which belongs to Me], saying, ‘I am the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed),’ and they will mislead many.

Mislead many.

I don’t like to automatically ascribe doomsday scenarios to every ludicrous, stupid thing said by politicians – especially not the current reprobate-in-chief – but given the fervent cult-vibe of Trumpism, Wednesday’s events at least require our attention.

To get a better feel for what has happened, we have to look at President Trump’s week.

Earlier, he huffed that those of the American-Jewish community who voted Democrat were “disloyal.”

Who are they disloyal to? Israel? The United States? Donald Trump?

According to the president, that disloyalty is to Israel, suggesting that American Jews have “split loyalties.” This is no small thing, considering how often the Jewish community is accused of that very thing by those who tend to have a bias against Israel and the Jewish people.

We’re not quite sure what goes on in that bag of cats that run wild through Trump’s brain, but either way, it was an insulting thing to say.

But he wasn’t done…

As we’ve seen, all too often, when this president is called out for doing something utterly asinine, his defenders will ooze out of the woodwork to defend him, at all costs.

In this particular case, it was radio host, conspiracy theorist, and obedient Trumpian bootlick, Wayne Allyn Root.

Root saw the need to defend his liege against those who protested the smear against the American Jewish community.

With the unbridled passion of a true religious zealot, Root blasted a proclamation of faith to the world. The message was received.

In fact, with his complex on full display, Trump tweeted out Root’s praise, thanking him for the offering laid on the altar.

“President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world…and the Jewish people in Israel love him like he’s the King of Israel,” tweeted Mr. Trump, quoting Wayne Allyn Root, a conservative radio host known for promoting conspiracy theories.

“They love him like he is the second coming of God…But American Jews don’t know him or like him. They don’t even know what they’re doing or saying anymore. It makes no sense!”

“But that’s OK, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s good for all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he’s good for everyone in America who wants a job.”

The emphasis there is mine.

Mr. Trump added his own comment at the end: “Wow!”

Later in the day, this vulgar heretic even looked to the sky and referred to himself as “the chosen one.”

So let me go ahead and say what others may be saying to themselves:

Yes. He may, indeed, be chosen by God. What, however, was he chosen for?

Could it be to punish a nation that has turned so far from God, with a church that has failed to be the hands and feet, looking to political saviors, rather than being the salt and light we’re called to be?

It’s possible, but American evangelicals don’t seem to be grasping any other possibility, except that Donald Trump is God’s divine promise, and that’s incredibly disturbing.

What Donald Trump did by thanking Root and promoting his heresy was to put himself at the same level as Jesus Christ.

We continue to hear about the godliness of Trump from his defenders, like Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham, Jr, but will they call this out, or will they ignore it, for the sake of political expediency?

You can bet that if a Democrat had retweeted that he was the King of Israel and the “second coming of God,” every pulpit in the nation would be feeling the heat of the fire and brimstone sermons offered up.

To date, I’ve seen nothing to dispute Root or Trump’s claim of his divine nature from any of the prominent faith leaders. To be honest, however, the past three years have taught me not to expect these white washed tombs to do or say anything that rebukes their political messiah.

What I expect to hear is that Trump was merely repeating something someone else said, and therefore, is free of any guilt.

I expect to hear Franklin Graham or Jerry Falwell Jr. equivocate about how supporters of Barack Obama referred to him as “the one.”

They would be correct in pointing that out. It was one of the more disgusting episodes in eight years under the liberal Obama regime.

At no point, however, do I recall Barack Obama publicly embracing that title. Nor is the reference to his being “the one” anywhere near as egregious as a man celebrating being called the “king of Israel” and the “second coming of God.”

Were Trump an actual Christian, he would be horrified at the reference and would have quickly distanced himself.

He is not, however, a redeemed believer in Christ.

He is an arrogant, deluded egotist. He is who he has always been: profane, irreverent, and dangerously corrupt.

Shame on those church leaders who continue to publicly support this man, while also ignoring or making excuses for such a blatant show of blasphemy.

Donald Trump probably believes Jews are all actually Israelis. Like, I think he literally believes every Jew is an Israeli citizen regardless of where we actually come from, and diaspora Jews just hang around in other countries for some reason. He probably gets this idea from a combination of laziness and the fact his brain is melting.

However, this belief is most likely reinforced by the Evangelicals he surrounds himself with. Evangelicals’ hyper-literal reading of the bible causes them to equate the modern Israeli republic with the biblical kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and equate those kingdoms with the Jewish people as a whole. You can see this in the way Evangelicals like Susan see modern Israel as a fulfillment of prophecies that refer to the ancient Israelites and the biblical kingdoms, and treat Jews as instruments of prophecy. Since Evangelicals support modern Israel to fulfill their warped conception of biblical prophecy, and Trump incredibly pro-Israel, Trump’s Evangelical advisers probably told him that he was chosen by god to protect Israel or something. Run that through his narcissism and you get Trump declaring himself Donald Trump, Rex Iudaeorum. Evangelical leaders won’t contradict him or withdraw their support because at the end of the day they’re on the same side of this issue.

This episode should also end any debate about whether supporting Israel is the same as liking Jews. Trump is ranting about how American Jews are ignorant and disloyal, and then declaring his unconditional support for Israel. Being pro-Israel and antisemitic are perfectly compatible, and the next time someone says otherwise just show them a clip of Trump.

IllinoisPatriot

After reading your post, I can only conclude that you are one twisted and hateful Atheist.

Oh Susan, give it a rest. There is nothing to fear in electing a malignant narcissist to the highest office and incessantly telling him he is the trumpet of God.

While some like Wayne Allen Root are blatantly obvious in their biblical heresies for all things Trump, others try to be more subtle. The keyword is “try”. For example, Andrew Klavan at the Daily Wire has literally declared Trump to have the superpower of making all his opponents destroy themselves, to which he relates to Jedi Force powers. Even if we were to entertain this pantheist cockamamie fantasy we would have to conclude that since Trump has used his power even on those who speak the truth about him, that would make him a super-villain and a Sith.

Michael Knowles also at the Daily Wire wants us to know that Trump works in mysterious ways on our behalf. And here all this time I thought it was the Lord who did that.

Romans 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Deuteronomy 28:20 The LORD will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.

Ellen Elmore

I do not believe there is a line Trump could cross that would keep Evangelicals from voting for Trump. He truly is their political messiah. The excuse given is always the same. He is far better than any Democrat and he saved the nation from Hillary.

Stephen

I often find my self opposite the way culture or politics go. Maybe because I hear Jesus’s voice and will not follow another. I am congruent with Susan. Nothing matters to us but the Master’s voice.

JASmius

Modern Israel is the fulfillment of prophetic Scripture (specifically, Ezekiel 36-39). That doesn’t make Americans of Jewish ethnicity or religious affiliation Israeli citizens. You’re conflating the two because you have a bigoted ax to grind against evangelicals. It’s the same motivation that prompts you to conflate evangelicals with Trumpgelicals, despite the former following Jesus Christ and the latter idolatrously having denied Christ to worship Trump. It’s also the same toxic mentality behind your proclaiming the blatant contradiction that one can be pro-Israel and anti-Semitic. Sorry, pal, that cake don’t bake, as “The Squad” has tried to make abundantly clear in spite of Trump’s galloping efforts to sound even more anti-Semitic.

Which is more than a little ironic, since his “Jewish voters should support me since I (pretended to) move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem” is less anti-Semitism than brain-dead transactionalism. The vast majority of Jewish Americans have been Democrats for decades, and nothing Trump could ever do would change that. He may have used a classic anti-Semitic trope (“disloyalty”) and made himself sound like Ilhan Omar’s crazy uncle in the process, but his stupidity and ignorance are so immensely stupendous that I’d wager he didn’t realize that’s what he was doing.

But this is why people like you should be immensely grateful for and to Donald Trump. He’s the best thing that ever happened to your tribe: a lifelong Manhattan liberal, pagan Democrat conning his way into the Republican Party, hijacking it, and systematically sabotaging and discrediting it from within and laying waste to its credibility and political viability for the next generation at minimum. People like you will be ruling the country unchallenged for the next decade, and maybe until close to mid-century, because of him and because so many of what turned out to be fake conservatives/reactionaries were his willing suckers, marks, and dupes. They thought they were “owning” you, but were actually committing political and ideological seppuku precisely because they, for all intents and purposes, became you.

Some of us did not, though. And we’ll still be around, proclaiming the truths both you and Trumpies foolishly deny.

calduncan

I’m catching a whiff of that now familiar meme: “If you didn’t vote the way I voted, you are not a real Christian.”
Time to hit those Gospels and read all that Jesus said about judging others. I don’t think they were “suggestions,” I think He meant them as commands.
Never elevate your opinions to dogmas. Never turn your detestation of a politician into a requirement for others.

guy

Israel is only those spiritually descended from Abraham. Ethnicity alone doesn’t a descendent of Abraham make. Romans 9

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

Michael Weyer

I try to stay out of the whole “who’s more Jewish” debate seeing as how we Catholics have enough issues of our own.

Michael Weyer

I get the vast majority of Evangelicals are good people who may differ in their faith than my own but think they can come out as decent.

Sadly, the cliche to those outside is how Evangelicals are all middle-aged, think the Left Behind books count as scripture and that Jews, LGBTS and other non-believer should be “converted” in camps. Thanks to Trump and his ilk, it’s all too easy to slam them as horrible hypocrites which fuels the dislike.

Then again, as a Catholic, I know just how it feels to get lumped together with the ulta-strict loons and other folks who give us all a bad name.

Alpha 1

The spam filter ate my longer replies, so I’ll try and put this succinctly. Israel is a political entity in the Middle East that does not represent the Jewish people because half of us don’t live there. It can be supported for geopolitical reasons that have nothing to do with liking Jews. The best example of this is Saudi Arabia, a virulently antisemitic regime that supports Israel as an ally against their shared enemy Iran. Supporting Israel and liking Jews are separate things, no matter how much they may be equated.

silicon28

“We continue to hear about the godliness of Trump from his defenders, like Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham, Jr, but will they call this out, or will they ignore it, for the sake of political expediency?”

I can call a verdict on Graham without even thinking twice about it. A guy who will go against his own mother’s and father’s wishes to turn their graves into a money making tourist attraction will do almost ANYTHING that is self-serving. And Graham’s continued kissing of Trump’s royal backside is decidedly self-serving. Thus the evangelical church continues to show itself as a “white-washed tomb.” Sad but true, and we Christians have been adequately warned; if we don’t rise up against this nonsense in 2020, we deserve exactly what we are going to receive.

mudskipper

Sigh. Trump was not a life-long Democrat who switched parties to run for President. Before he was elected in 2016, he had been a Republican for 7 years (since 2009). Over his lifetime, he has been a Republican for 22 years and a Democrat for only 8. Republicans voted him into power and the vast majority of Republicans support him. To the extent that he is destroying your party, it is purely an own goal.

ColoradoSusan

Susan Wright is so taken with herself that she can’t see sarcasm.

Christiane Smith

“Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless. ”
(Prov. 31:8)

Halftrack2

I beleve Christians should vote for and support other Christians. Not Pagans..

guy

How did he participate in the public square? Which principles did he champion and support for the vast majority of his life? Which circles did he frequent. History shows him as center left at best. Resembling most what many who now support him call a sure RINO

IllinoisPatriot

Trump was a live-long democrat regardless of what party he may have registered as to vote.

As guy says below, a Democrat is best defined by his/her ideology and values (or lack thereof). The values that Trump has supported all his life (arrogance, relative morality, believing he is above the law, narcissism, vanity, progressive agenda taken straight from the Democrat playbooks and/or Saul Alynski, etc all point to Trump being a life-long Democrat.

When Reagan switched from Democrat to Republican, it was accompanied by an obvious change in his entire value set, his actions, his outlook and his behavior. No such change toward conservative values has ever been observed in Trump or his family regardless of which party he may have registered as for political voting purposes or for his personal gain.

mudskipper

On the other hand, his love of money and profit above all else, his contempt for the environment, his lack of business ethics, his exploitation of workers, his disinterest in learning and lack of curiosity, his admiration of authoritarian rulers, and his nativism, implicit racism, and jingoistic patriotism all put him firmly in the Republican camp.